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OF JUSTICE IN THE REVOLUTION AND IN THE CHURCH
FIRST STUDY: POSITION OF THE PROBLEM OF JUSTICE
CHAPTER ONE: [CHAPTER TITLE I FULL]
FRENCH
Ce que je devais accuser, Monseigneur, c’était cette manie de spiritualisme et de transcendance qui dans un intérêt d’outre-tombe semble avoir pris à tâche de mettre sur cette terre tout sens dessus dessous ; qui a fait du travail en général une malédiction et de chaque métier une incapacité, comme elle a fait de la propriété un privilége, de l’aumône une vertu, de la science un orgueil, de la richesse une tentation, de la servitude un devoir, de la Justice une fiction, de l’égalité un blasphème, et de la liberté une révolte.
Ce que je devais accuser, Monseigneur, c’était cette manie de spiritualisme et de transcendance qui dans un intérêt d’outre-tombe semble avoir pris à tâche de mettre sur cette terre tout sens dessus dessous ; qui a fait du travail en général une malédiction et de chaque métier une incapacité, comme elle a fait de la propriété un privilége, de l’aumône une vertu, de la science un orgueil, de la richesse une tentation, de la servitude un devoir, de la Justice une fiction, de l’égalité un blasphème, et de la liberté une révolte. Ce que je devais accuser, Monseigneur, c’était cette manie de spiritualisme et de transcendance qui dans un intérêt d’outre-tombe semble avoir pris à tâche de mettre sur cette terre tout sens dessus dessous ; qui a fait du travail en général une malédiction et de chaque métier une incapacité, comme elle a fait de la propriété un privilége, de l’aumône une vertu, de la science un orgueil, de la richesse une tentation, de la servitude un devoir, de la Justice une fiction, de l’égalité un blasphème, et de la liberté une révolte.
Ce que je devais accuser, Monseigneur, c’était cette manie de spiritualisme et de transcendance qui dans un intérêt d’outre-tombe semble avoir pris à tâche de mettre sur cette terre tout sens dessus dessous ; qui a fait du travail en général une malédiction et de chaque métier une incapacité, comme elle a fait de la propriété un privilége, de l’aumône une vertu, de la science un orgueil, de la richesse une tentation, de la servitude un devoir, de la Justice une fiction, de l’égalité un blasphème, et de la liberté une révolte.
ENGLISH
You say, with Bishop Sibour, and the temperate, platonic and druidic republic, repeats with you, that the Christian precept of charity fulfills the providential purpose of the unequal distribution among men of the gifts of intelligence and wealth . Which means in good French that equality is a chimera, and that equalitybeing chimerical, things must remain as they have always been; that any attempt to change the affairs of society and the State would be criminal, and that the promoters of political and social improvements, whoever they may be, must be sent to Cayenne. Sint ut sunt, aut non sint . You say of the workers what the Jesuits said of themselves the day before their condemnation, it is the last word of your philanthropy.
You say, with Bishop Sibour, and the temperate, platonic and druidic republic, repeats with you, that the Christian precept of charity fulfills the providential purpose of the unequal distribution among men of the gifts of intelligence and wealth . Which means in good French that equality is a chimera, and that equalitybeing chimerical, things must remain as they have always been; that any attempt to change the affairs of society and the State would be criminal, and that the promoters of political and social improvements, whoever they may be, must be sent to Cayenne. Sint ut sunt, aut non sint . You say of the workers what the Jesuits said of themselves the day before their condemnation, it is the last word of your philanthropy.
You say, with Bishop Sibour, and the temperate, platonic and druidic republic, repeats with you, that the Christian precept of charity fulfills the providential purpose of the unequal distribution among men of the gifts of intelligence and wealth . Which means in good French that equality is a chimera, and that equality being chimerical, things must remain as they have always been; that any attempt to change the affairs of society and the State would be criminal, and that the promoters of political and social improvements, whoever they may be, must be sent to Cayenne. Sint ut sunt, aut non sint . You say of the workers what the Jesuits said of themselves the day before their condemnation, it is the last word of your philanthropy. You say, with Bishop Sibour, and the temperate, platonic and druidic republic, repeats with you, that the Christian precept of charity fulfills the providential purpose of the unequal distribution among men of the gifts of intelligence and wealth . Which means in good French that equality is a chimera, and that equalitybeing chimerical, things must remain as they have always been; that any attempt to change the affairs of society and the State would be criminal, and that the promoters of political and social improvements, whoever they may be, must be sent to Cayenne. Sint ut sunt, aut non sint . You say of the workers what the Jesuits said of themselves the day before their condemnation, it is the last word of your philanthropy.
NOTES
- Here, I think I hear all the so-called geniuses crying out against profanation, against indignity. Well! Since they take themselves for beings apart, let them live apart! Workers, you can and must do without their assistance.
- The characteristic of false institutions is to obscure ideas and pose insoluble problems; then, when the veil that covered all this nonsense is torn, to raise against the immaculate truth the calumny of traditions.
- Of Justice in the Revolution and in the Church
COMMENTARY: What is the right to work? Is there a right to work? wondered the Constituents of 1848, in the best faith and with the best will in the world. In a despotic state where all wealth and all industry depended on the prince, a sort of pact was conceived between the latter and his subjects, by which he guaranteed them at the very least labor and wages. But the means, in a democracy, of decreeing that I must provide work to an individual whose services are useless to me and, if I cannot occupy him, that I will pay a tax to the State, which will occupy him ? Such a principle is a recourse to despotism, to communism, the negation of the Republic.
1858 FRENCH
Ce que je devais accuser, Monseigneur, c’était cette manie de spiritualisme et de transcendance qui dans un intérêt d’outre-tombe semble avoir pris à tâche de mettre sur cette terre tout sens dessus dessous ; qui a fait du travail en général une malédiction et de chaque métier une incapacité, comme elle a fait de la propriété un privilége, de l’aumône une vertu, de la science un orgueil, de la richesse une tentation, de la servitude un devoir, de la Justice une fiction, de l’égalité un blasphème, et de la liberté une révolte.
1858 ENGLISH
What is the right to work? Is there a right to work? wondered the Constituents of 1848, in the best faith and with the best will in the world. In a despotic state where all wealth and all industry depended on the prince, a sort of pact was conceived between the latter and his subjects, by which he guaranteed them at the very least labor and wages. But the means, in a democracy, of decreeing that I must provide work to an individual whose services are useless to me and, if I cannot occupy him, that I will pay a tax to the State, which will occupy him ? Such a principle is a recourse to despotism, to communism, the negation of the Republic.
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